Information about French autumn culture, a moment of silence for Paris, a game, and snacks make up French Club’s Fall themed November meeting on Nov. 17.
On Nov. 13, Paris experienced a series of bombings and shootings resulting in the death of 129 people.
“French Club felt obligated to include the Paris attack because we felt French Club was one of the few connections at Westwood to connect with the French culture and the French people,” Historian Aldrian Widjaja ‘18 said. “We thought it would be an important topic to talk about and pay tribute to those who lost their lives.”
After the moment of silence, the students played a game where two opponents compete to hit the correct vocab word from a jumble – projected onto the overhead screen – first with their respective flyswatter. It is a game played commonly in Madame Rochard’s classes.
“In middle school, our French teacher called it the fly swatter game, but Madame Rochard called it the butterfly game because she projected the words on her screen. She said to gently hit the word — not kill it — just hit it like a butterfly,” Widjaja said.
However, the butterfly swatter game isn’t just fun and games.
“The game helped us review by helping us memorize the definitions and how to use it in a sentence — we would only get the full point for our team if we correctly use the vocabulary word in a sentence,” said Widjaja.
Although French Club meetings are extracurricular events, learning vocabulary through games makes it almost an extension of French class.
“French club is more fun than education but we learn more vocabulary, it’s not vocabulary we learn on a normal day to day basis but it’s still nice to know,” Angelina Hemme ‘19 said. “Today I learned Fall vocabulary which was interesting because I never bothered to learn it on my own.”
Not only did the members’ vocabularies improve, but the officers’ confidence did, as well.
“I have been able to work together with other people and organise everything together. We work better as a team now. If anything were to occur, I would have it under control along with the assistance of the other officers,” Vice President Sofia Abreu ‘18 said.
However, there were some obstacles that needed to be overcome. French Club President Kat McFarland was recently admitted to the hospital and only returned to school about a week before the meeting.
“All of our officers had to step it up these past two weeks and make sure all the responsibilities we have as officers were properly addressed. We have to work as a team, otherwise the whole system can fall behind.” Abreu said.
The next French Club meeting will be on Jan. 19.
“For the next meeting, we’re planning on making an official French club members list. That way, our members can just check their name on the list,” Secretary Brenda Salazar ‘18 said. “This will make signing in faster and more organized.”
